Elderly men who escaped care home found at metal festival
Aging metalheads were ‘reluctant to leave’ Wacken Open Air festival, police said
Two elderly German men who went missing from their care home were discovered among the crowds at the world’s biggest heavy metal festival.
The pair disappeared without warning from an old people’s home in the rural Dithmarschen area of northern Germany on Friday night, prompting staff to call in the emergency services.
The search ended at 3am on Saturday morning, when the two men were finally found around 15 miles away at Wacken Open Air, the biggest metal music festival in the world, according to a police statement.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The annual festival, whose previous headliners include metal legends such as Motorhead, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, attracts upwards of 80,000 attendees every year to the otherwise tranquil village of Wacken, in northern Germany.
Although the geriatric rockers were reported to be “disoriented and dazed”, they were “reluctant to leave” the four-day festival - only doing so with encouragement of a police escort, says Deutsche Welle.
“They obviously liked the metal festival,” police spokeswoman Merle Neufeld told state broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, adding that the care home “quickly organised return transport” for the two residents after police picked them up.
A patrol car accompanied the retirees back to the care home as a “precautionary measure”, Der Spiegel reports.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
7 drinks for every winter need possible
The Week Recommends Including a variety of base spirits and a range of temperatures
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
'We have made it a crime for most refugees to want the American dream'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Was the Azerbaijan Airlines plane shot down?
Today's Big Question Multiple sources claim Russian anti-aircraft missile damaged passenger jet, leading to Christmas Day crash that killed at least 38
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Why Assad fell so fast
The Explainer The newly liberated Syria is in an incredibly precarious position, but it's too soon to succumb to defeatist gloom
By The Week UK Published
-
Romania's election rerun
The Explainer Shock result of presidential election has been annulled following allegations of Russian interference
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Russia's shadow war in Europe
Talking Point Steering clear of open conflict, Moscow is slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Nato rivals to see what it can get away with.
By The Week UK Published
-
Cutting cables: the war being waged under the sea
In the Spotlight Two undersea cables were cut in the Baltic sea, sparking concern for the global network
By The Week UK Published
-
The nuclear threat: is Vladimir Putin bluffing?
Talking Point Kremlin's newest ballistic missile has some worried for Nato nations
By The Week UK Published
-
Russia vows retaliation for Ukrainian missile strikes
Speed Read Ukraine's forces have been using U.S.-supplied, long-range ATCMS missiles to hit Russia
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Has the Taliban banned women from speaking?
Today's Big Question 'Rambling' message about 'bizarre' restriction joins series of recent decrees that amount to silencing of Afghanistan's women
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Cuba's energy crisis
The Explainer Already beset by a host of issues, the island nation is struggling with nationwide blackouts
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published